Baltimore honors native son with 'Frank Zappa Day'

FILE - This undated file photo provided by Saulius Paukstys, shows a cast used to create a replica of a bust of musician Frank Zappa in an art studio in Vilnius, Lithuania. The original bust, which sits in a public square in Vilnius, can be seen in the background. Zappa never visited Lithuania, but his music was popular there among the avant garde. A Lithuanian fan club erected the Zappa statue in the Lithuanian capital, and last year donated a replica to Baltimore, the singer's birthplace. It took more than a year, but Baltimore officials have finally decided that the statue will be erected outside a public library. (AP Photo/Saulius Paukstys, File)
— AP

FILE - This undated file photo provided by Saulius Paukstys, shows a cast used to create a replica of a bust of musician Frank Zappa in an art studio in Vilnius, Lithuania. The original bust, which sits in a public square in Vilnius, can be seen in the background. Zappa never visited Lithuania, but his music was popular there among the avant garde. A Lithuanian fan club erected the Zappa statue in the Lithuanian capital, and last year donated a replica to Baltimore, the singer's birthplace. It took more than a year, but Baltimore officials have finally decided that the statue will be erected outside a public library. (AP Photo/Saulius Paukstys, File)
/ AP

FILE -This May 7, 2008 file photo shows a couple sitting beneath a statue of Frank Zappa in Vilnius, Lithuania. In 1995, a quirky band of Lithuanians managed to erect a bronze bust of eccentric rocker Frank Zappa in downtown Vilnius, the capital of the former Soviet republic. Zappa never visited Lithuania, but his music was popular there among the avant garde. A Lithuanian fan club erected a Zappa statue in the Lithuanian capital, and last year donated a replica to Baltimore, the singer's birthplace. It took more than a year, but Baltimore officials have finally decided that the statue will be erected outside a public library. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis, File)— AP

FILE -This May 7, 2008 file photo shows a couple sitting beneath a statue of Frank Zappa in Vilnius, Lithuania. In 1995, a quirky band of Lithuanians managed to erect a bronze bust of eccentric rocker Frank Zappa in downtown Vilnius, the capital of the former Soviet republic. Zappa never visited Lithuania, but his music was popular there among the avant garde. A Lithuanian fan club erected a Zappa statue in the Lithuanian capital, and last year donated a replica to Baltimore, the singer's birthplace. It took more than a year, but Baltimore officials have finally decided that the statue will be erected outside a public library. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis, File)
/ AP

BALTIMORE 
Baltimore's mayor has declared a "Frank Zappa Day" on the birthday of the late rocker and native son.

Mayor Sheila Dixon declared the special day Monday. The eccentric musician was born in Baltimore on Dec. 21, 1940. He died in 1993.

Last week, Baltimore's public art commission decided that it will erect a bust of Zappa outside a public library.

The bust was given to Baltimore by fans of Zappa from Lithuania, where his music was popular among the avant-garde in the early 1990s. A similar bust is a tourist attraction in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital.